Say it Again
by ShipsbyNoa
Summary: Dick has never celebrated Valentine's Day, then along came Kory.


A/N: I tried domestic fluff for Valentine's day! I'm aware Valentine's day is gone, enjoy it anyway? :)

* * *

Dick slipped into the bathroom while Kory was taking a shower. He wiped the condensation off the mirror with his forearm and started brushing his teeth. Counting backwards from ten, he waited for the clockwork meltdown they suffered ever since a certain pair of teenagers started school. 5, 4, 3, 2, -

Rachel pounded on the door as she and Gar argued about who would get to go in next. Dick scoffed, he never imagined a life where he would be living in domesticity, with two super powered teenagers who, all of things, fought over his tiny bathroom while his alien girlfriend showered.

They were moving away, their voices fading before he had a chance to respond. "Mm," he hummed. Maybe they were figuring out how to problem solve on their own, and he didn't even have to threaten them with Kory.

"Are you going to join me?" Kory said from behind the curtain.

"I can't." Dick spat into the sink. "The kids are late for school already."

Kory pulled the curtain back and he stilled in front of the mirror, watching soap suds slide down her smooth body. "Do you think they like it? School, I mean." She ran the bar of soap across her chest. "They're still figuring out their powers."

Dick pulled his gaze away and rinsed his mouth out. "They need normality after everything that happened," he turned to her and smiled. "They'll be fine. They have each other."

"Five minutes," Kory bit her lip. "That's all I need."

He huffed out a laugh, because Kory was a relentless tease, and he was weak. "You know, this is terrorism." His eyes drew lines over the curves of her supple breasts.

"Oh, yeah?" She ran her tongue across her top lip.

"Yeah." Dick pursed his lips, but he wasn't going anywhere.

"Come here," Kory leaned over the bathtub and curled her finger at him. She smiled when he approached, his eyes dark, and water dripped from her elbow as she drew him into her, running her hands over his bare shoulders.

Dick exhaled as she leaned down and closed her mouth on his. He closed his eyes and his hand ran up her smooth back, deepening the kiss, and then he was stepping out of his boxers and climbing in with her, pulling the curtain closed. "Ten minutes."

...

Rachel grunted and rolled her eyes at the throng of kids piling in through the school gates with their friends, phones and switches. "You know what today is, right?" Rachel said as they pulled up on the curb.

Dick raised his eyebrows and hitched his shoulder up. "Thursday?"

"Valentine's Day." Gar said, followed by a low hiss of victory as he clocked a new level in his game.

Dick frowned. "It is?" He checked his phone. It was the 14th. "Oh."

Rachel cleared her throat and looked down into her lap, pushing her thumb rough the tiny hole in her long-sleeved shirt. "I've always hated the holidays. Birthdays, Easters, Christmases, all of it." She swallowed. "That was before you and Kory, and Gar." Finally, she looked up at him. "Now I'm actually kind of looking forward to them, cause we'll be together this time."

Gar pushed his head between the seats and set his chin on Dick's. "Me too."

Dick smiled. Too moved for words. He could laugh for considering in that moment that Valentine's be about everyone you loved, familial as well as romantic. A family deal.

Rachel sat forward. "So, what are you doing for Kory?" She smiled. "I know she isn't fully clued in on what it means, so she's acting like she isn't bothered, but I think you should get her some orchids, and those donuts she likes from that dessert bar, and you can cook spaghetti."

Dick chuckled, leaning back into his seat. "Anything else?"

Gar shrugged. "I love spaghetti."

"Kory does, too." Rachel added. "Spaghetti is a win."

"I love the enthusiasm," Dick sighed. "But, you're late for class."

"And whose fault is that?" Rachel smirked, and then climbed out of the car with her backpack hanging from her shoulder.

Dick felt his cheeks grow hot and dropped his gaze, with a smile on his face. "Kory is picking you up before her shift at the bar. Be here on the curb." He called out of the window. "Unless you want to walk six blocks home."

Gar waved, and Rachel turned to him so he could see her rolling her eyes at him.

Dick leaned out of the window. "OK?"

"Yeah, OK," Rachel shouted. "At least get her some chocolates,"

"Go. Run." He called out. Dick had been working up the nerve to give Kory something only he could give, that only she would have, but they'd been occupied of late with two moody, super powered teenagers, and assimilating into domestic life had become the priority after the Trigon mess.

They were still rooting out his believers and Raven hunters who believed her death was the only way to cleanse the world. It had been a long, arduous and seemingly never ending task. He and Kory were working double time to clean up, dismantle and secure anyone who had Rachel in their cross hairs, and in between they reminded each other what they felt like.

They were also dealing with Gar's abilities in influx. But they'd slowly settled into every day life; going to school, coming home, doing homework, watching TV, eating spaghetti or pizza and then pretending to go bed. On time.

...

He stuck his key in the door and pushed it open, but it bounced back because of the chain. "Kory? Are you in there?"

"Uh, yeah." She called out. "I thought you were going to the store after drop off."

"Open the door." Dick pulled the door closed, and waited for it open again, with his eyebrow raised in question. "Hi." He stepped inside and paused at the door. Kory wore nothing but a scarf, thigh high boots and a lacy, black two-piece. Candles flickered on the counter top, coffee table and windowsill. Tiny petals littered the floor and music crooned in the background. His heart swelled inside his chest while Kory stood next to his record player, playing with her ring.

"I watched a lot of videos on my phone after Rachel told me what it was. Your Valentine's day. Apparently, it's an important day for couples here, and also a scam." She shrugged.

Dick smiled. He never cared for Valentine's Day, and he couldn't remember a time he ever longed for it or a person enough to want to acknowledge the fleeting holiday. The 14th was a normal day and always had been, to him, anyway. Even now while Kory stood vulnerable in front him, in her black, lacy underwear, which had set his heart in a race, it wasn't the day turning him into unrecognizable mush, it was the sight of her. She warmed him from the inside out. "I forgot about today," he said, regrettably, and held his hands up. "But I bought donuts from that dessert bar, you like, orchids, and this," he shook the alien shaped key ring. An inside joke between them, shared after a Sunday in bed watching alien invasion classics, courtesy of Gar. It was his humorous attempt to jog her memory of home. They'd agreed Hollywood's idea of aliens was the least creative of all creations, but was thoroughly entertaining.

"That thing is ugly." Kory giggled and walked over to him. "I didn't get you anything." She removed the donuts, orchids and key ring, one by one and sat it on the door side table. "I called in sick at the bar and Donna is picking up the kids from school. They planned it." She twisted the ring around her finger.

"Wow. They're really good." Dick dropped his keys on the table and slipped out of his jacket, flinging it over the sofa. "to be honest, I'm lost for words you did all this,"

"Well," Kory's gaze fell. "If it's important to you, then it's important,"

Dick pressed his palm to the small of her back and pulled her close. "It is now," he swallowed. "Happy Valentine's Day." He whispered against her lips, brushing them with his.

Kory kissed him tenderly, running her hands through his hair. "Do you want my clumped spaghetti or do you want to skip to dessert?"

Dick pressed his forehead against hers. "Please tell me you're dessert."

Kory snorted, gently scraping her nails at the nape of his neck. "Obviously." She licked her lips. "What do you think about an afternoon in bed with red wine and then a movie - in this decade,"

"I'll just nod," Dick leaned into her neck, licking, and scraping his teeth there.

Kory slipped from his arms and sauntered to the kitchen. Dick followed behind and leaned into the door frame, watching as she grabbed two mugs from the cupboard. He thought about how drastically his life had changed in such a short space of time, and how terrified he was. So terrified he convinced himself he didn't want it, but Kory anchored him with her emotional strength, and burned right through him with her emotional vulnerability. It hurt at first, but every day since then, he has grown stronger in his vulnerability because she stands beside him.

"I thought it would be better if we stay in cause then we're free to-"

"I love you-" Dick said as a matter of fact. It was his first time saying it aloud, though he'd felt it a thousand times inside his chest, in his bones, from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. When Kory kissed him to rouse him from sleep, or hugged him for no reason. When she reached out for him in bed, and teased him during long car rides. He felt it even when they fought, whether it was over how to protect Rachel and Gar, or his lack of communication when it came to matters of the heart. He was still learning on that front, and it was a long and uncomfortable process, but she was worth it.

Kory turned to him, and her smile was faint. "What did you say?"

He exhaled and entered the kitchen, removing the bottle and mug from her hands. He thought he'd be nervous, thought his palms would sweat and he would stutter over his nerves, but once she was in front of him he forgot to think. He just felt everything. He just felt her.

Kory was the first person he thought of when we woke up, and he woke up next to her. Her laugh was contagious, her voice soothing, like a Nina Simone song, and her heart was big, and warm, and she had entrusted it to him. Given it to him. She was his best friend, patient when he clammed up and gentle when prying him out. There wasn't much he could, or wanted to hide, Kory could read his mind from behind.

He ran his hands down her shoulders and took her hands into his own. "I love you, Kory."

Her smile grew wide and her eyes twinkled. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Say it again."

Dick smiled, and his cheeks flushed. "I love you." He whispered against her cheek.

"Show me," She leaned back.

Dick grabbed her ass with both hands and hoisted her up onto his waist, kissing her passionately, and then he slid her onto the counter. Burying his face in the crook of her neck, he kissed and sucked, while her hands roamed under his shirt.

"I lied when I said I didn't get you anything." Kory said, breathlessly, pulling the blindfold from around her neck.

He smirked, dragging his thumb across her lips, and then pushed it into her mouth. He planned on making this Valentine, one Kory would feel lingering- _tingling_ on every nerve for days to come. "Ladies first." As Kory moved to unzip her boot, his hand covered hers and a lustful grin spread across his face. "I want them on."


End file.
